


Red Sands

by Ech09x



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Bonding, Brotherhood, Coping, Covert Operation, Danger, Family Loss, Forgiveness, Gen, Grieving, Internal Conflict, Military, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Revenge, Soldiers, War, randomly updated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-15 15:48:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17531645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ech09x/pseuds/Ech09x
Summary: Edward Callahan was impressed when the Delta Force came to his aid in Mogadishu. After he returned to the states he sought to join the Elite group responsible for saving his life. After an operation goes horribly wrong, Edward is forced to stay overseas in order to help take down the cruel man responsible. But when an attack on the home front takes his wife away from him. Can he cope with the loss of his family and men?Now he's stuck in a foreign country, surrounded by men who want to kill him.As bitterness swells within toward those responsible, he is faced with a decision. Will he make the right choice? Or will his anger take over?





	Red Sands

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer, this is just a side project of mine, updates can either be few and far between or in rapid succession, just a heads up.
> 
> Also, the Military doesn't actually work like this, this is just fiction after all.

April 14, 2001, 8:39 A.M

A lone Blackhawk helicopter thundered over the dunes. A large village in the desert was its destination, and inside the helicopter, three men exchanged glances.

They had been eating breakfast that morning when the call came, the operation was a go. The soldiers grabbed their gear, and rushed to the waiting bird. 

The ride was soon coming to an end, and the soldiers readied themselves.

"You guys see that?" One of the men, 'Joker,' asked.

"Yep, they know we're coming," 'Bravo' answered.

'Echo' nodded at their words, "Command, the target is aware of our presence, they’ve sent out smoke signals to warn the locals."

"Roger that Red-1," A voice came over the radio, "Watch yourselves, and brace for resistance, we want that target alive."

"Roger," 'Echo' responded.

'Joker' looked out toward the thick black smoke coming from the village, "They must be burning tires out there, this is reminding me of Mogadishu."

"Don’t remind me," 'Echo' answered as he leaned forward and watched the smoke himself. 

The helicopter began lowering itself near the village, and touched down just outside. The group jumped out and ran towards the village. The civilians, seeing foreign faces, began yelling and running, mothers grabbed their children and ran inside the family huts.

'Echo' took the lead of the three men, "Fan out, watch your fire," he ordered.

The other two men nodded and split up with one going to the right and one to the left. Echo moved closer and saw a man armed with an AK-47 step into view from behind a building. Echo shot him before he could yell and continued forward, and a few more shots rang out. Armed militia began running out from behind buildings and blindly firing. 

Their inaccuracy greatly diminished their effectiveness and they were quickly put down one-by-one as they stepped into the open.

Echo began working his way through the village by running across a street and going in between a large building and the huts that lined the streets. More militia were making their way to them, and two walked into his view, he quickly shot them and continued forward.

He kept walking and came to the end of the clearing. He stopped and listened when he heard the sound of a vehicle.

He could see an old car, the entire upper body was missing and it had a machine gun mounted on the back. He looked back and saw Bravo through a gap in the huts.

Bravo was in between a few huts, and saw the vehicle rolling towards them. Echo watched as Bravo lifted his rifle and fired, killing the machine gunner in the car. 

Echo motioned for Bravo to come his way. Bravo nodded and ran over to him, with Joker on his tail.

"There's a hangar on down that way," Joker said as he pointed, "If he's anywhere that would have to be it."

Echo nodded, "lets go then."

Echo and his fireteam slowly made their way down the passage and to the corner of a large building.

"Its right around this corner," Joker said.

Echo peeked around, and could see a large hangar filled with guns and soldiers, a hanging walkway led to an office suspended above the floor. He eased back behind the building and turned to his men.

"There are a bunch of guys inside that building," he began. "Joker, you and Bravo head back and around to get on the other side of the road, I'll give you two minutes before I start shooting."

Joker nodded, and the two men began to circle back and around.

Echo checked his watch, two minutes to go. He looked down and checked his CAR-15,and readied himself.

It was thirty seconds from when he would engage when he heard an AK firing from across the street. He instantly reacted and aimed down the road toward the hangar. Militia were streaming out of inside, firing as they ran.

A bullet whizzed right past his head and he quickly jumped back behind cover. The Militia was raining bullets on his position. The concrete blocks of the building were breaking apart under the heavy fire.

He knew he had to either retreat, or attempt to get across the street and reach his buddies. He decided on taking the chance. He blind fired his rifle around the corner hoping to give himself some kind of suppressive fire, and dashed across the road, firing his rifle as he went. The bullets whizzed all around him and dust was thrown up all around from their impact, yet he miraculously, made it through.

Reaching the other side of the road, Echo reloaded his gun and ran through the village area. The Militia would be looking to find him, no doubt. He searched for his teammates, and grabbed his radio.

"Bravo, Joker, where are you?"

There was no response.

"I'm sure they're fine, if anyone can handle themselves, they can," He mused to himself. He grabbed his radio again and signaled his situation. 

"Command, this is Red -1, we've taken heavy fire from the local militia, I've lost contact with Red 2 and 3." He sounded.

His radio came to life, "Roger Red-1, we have a second team on their way in from the west. attempt to regroup, and prepare to apprehend the target."

"Roger, Command Red-1 out."

Echo sighed and radioed for his squamates again, there was still no response. He started to get worried, and began searching for them again.

He rounded the corner and came face to face with a militia soldier. The man could barely manage to raise his gun before he was quickly put down. Two more men came around some buildings and began firing. 

Echo ducked down and returned fire, his situation was getting bad fast. He could only hope to hold out until reinforcements could arrive. 

Multiple Militia soldiers began running his direction, and he took off through the village huts. He had to find an area he could hold out in. He finally found what looked to be an old car with debris scattered around. He took cover there, as militia began to close in on his position. 

Echo shot many as soon as they stepped into view, but they kept coming. It reminded him of Mogadishu all over again. 

More and more soldiers began firing on him, bullets were swarming all around him. He continued to fire back on them, but their numbers were quickly becoming overwhelming. It would only be a matter of time.

His adrenaline was pumping heavily through his body, and he continued to fire his rifle. He emptied his magazine and grabbed another. Only to look down and see blood running from his left shoulder.

Try as he might, he was overwhelmed, and when the second bullet hit, it pushed him back. He was losing blood fast, the wound in his shoulder had likely hit an artery. 

He couldn’t die like this, he swore to himself he was going to fight until rescue got to him.

Just as he prepared to take his last stand, the area around exploded with gunfire, and the streams of fire from a minigun tore the militia groups apart.

'Echo' looked up to see a Blackhawk helicopter, and everything faded to black.

It was eight more days before 'Echo' slowly opened his eyes, the light was blinding, and his body was quite sore.

He blinked a few times, before lifting his head and checking his surroundings. He was in what seemed to be a hospital building. There were several monitors and some IVs connected to him. There were also a few bandages around his shoulder and his upper left thigh.

He was trying to lift himself up with his right arm when the door opened and a nurse stepped inside.

"Oh," She paused, "you're not supposed to be awake yet."

"Where am I?" He asked.

"You're in the York Army Base treatment center," She answered, "You're lucky too, I might add. You lost a lot of blood."

"Great, Echo muttered, "can I get the Colonel in here?"

"I'll do what I can sir, he's been anxious about you waking," She replied.

"Good," was all Echo managed.

The nurse hurried from the room, leaving Echo alone to his thoughts. Were his squad mates okay? Was the mission a success? Had the target escaped? 

Echo continued mulling these questions in his head for half an hour, before the door opened again.

"Edward Callahan," the Colonel said as he stepped in the room.

"Its about time Colonel Bates," Edward muttered, "I was wondering when your were going to show up."

Bates strolled in, and pulled up a chair. "I was in the middle of some business, concerning you, actually."

"Me?" he asked.

"As it turns out," the Colonel said with a sigh, "Telaiz, got word before your team even left. He immediately left the scene."

"So that means-" Edward trailed off.

"Yeah, there's likely to be a mole," Bates finished.

"What about Seamus and Cole?" he asked.

The Colonel sighed, "They're dead Callahan; Red 4 and 5 found them both, it looked like Bravo got hit first, Joker tried to pull him out, and the Militia closed them in; I'm sorry." 

Edward's eyes stared off into space. 

They were dead, after they had trained together, after they had grown to trust each other, they had become brothers baptized together by fire. 

But in the span of minutes, their lights had vanished off the earth.

"I shouldn’t have told them to go on their own," he finally muttered.

"Callahan, don’t start blaming yourself," the Colonel began, "There was no way you could have known or prevented what happened."

Edward sighed, "How long will I be in here?"

The Colonel stood up, "The doc said it could be a good while, you're lucky Red 4 and 5 found you when they did."

"Speaking of which."

The Colonel walked over to the door and opened it. Two other men walked inside.

"These are the men who saved you."

Edward looked over the two men, before nodding, "Thank you," he said.

The two men smiled. "Their names are Carson McBride, and Michael Brown," the colonel said gesturing to the two of them. "Also known as Charlie and Dagger,"

"We're happy to help," Charlie added.

Edward nodded, "glad to hear it" he said.

"We're going to bring in some more operators from the mainland, once you're up, we are going to need on you on the field," The Colonel added, "So get well soon.

"I'll try," Edward answered.

*---------------------------------*

Several months had passed with little action. Edward had been in recovery for his gunshot wounds, while Charlie and Dagger had visited him regularly offering small talk and friendship.

He had grown to befriend the men over the course of their time together, and he hoped to be able to work with them in the future.

It was late August now, Edward's wounds had all healed up, and his rehabilitation had gone smoothly.

He sat in a chair listening to Charlie and Dagger explain their most recent findings.

"I think whatever it is, will be happening soon. I heard two more operatives were coming in from the mainland," Charlie said.

"Yep," Dagger added, "The Intel we found last week must have really shaken up the brass."

"No kidding, Telaiz has really come onto the scene here recently, his following has gotten much larger, and it wont be long before he overthrows the government here."

"Not to mention his threats against the United States," Edward added. "Any news on who the new guys are?" He asked.

Charlie shook his head, "No clue."

The door swung open, and the Colonel walked inside.

"Good morning gentlemen," He said with a smirk before turning to Edward, "The Doc said you are cleared to go."

'Good," Edward replied, "We were just talking about the new guys coming in."

The Colonel paused, "There's a lot more than just those two. I cant say a whole lot, but the Government wants this over quickly and discreetly." He added

"Well what about the mole? Did you find anything else?" Ernest asked.

The colonel shook his head, "Still no idea, we have a few suspects, but it seems like some information is still leaking out." He answered.

Dagger, who had remained mostly quiet during the conversation, spoke, "You don’t think there's a rogue agent do you?

The Colonel nodded affirmatively.

"Oh," Dagger mused.

*-------------------*

It was a few more days before a CIA intelligence officer stepped out followed by two new operatives. Soon enough, Edward was called in for questioning. 

Though the interrogation, as Dagger had called it, went well, Edward couldn’t help but shake the feeling that they were hiding something. He couldn’t blame them though, a botched operation, everyone except him being killed, That kind of thing needed to be hidden as much as possible.

A little time went by with little action. And it was the tenth of September when he was called to a briefing by the Colonel.

Edward strode into them room, spying the other operatives sitting and talking amongst themselves.

He made his way over to a man known as Grant Walker, or Wolf, which had arrived as back up for the men lost.

"How are you doing Edward," the man said, looking to him as he sat down.

"Oh," Edward sighed, "The usual I guess, Lilian called me the other day though so that’s good."

Wolf nodded, "I bet. I'm not sure if I would want someone back home or not, its hard to be away when you have family."

"Yep, I'll just be glad when this whole thing is all over with, then I can go back home and get to see her, Samantha too." Edward answered, "She's a little mess." 

"Spoiled daughters usually are," Wolf smirked.

"You saying I spoil her?" Edward replied with mock anger.

Grant wasn’t able to reply before the Colonel walked in and every man turned and gave him their attention.

The Colonel dismissed them and began with the briefing.

Word had gotten out that Telaiz had succeeded in capturing the city of Mizcah, and was making his way to the capitol building. In a last ditch effort, the leader of Obristan had asked the United States and her allies, to come to his aid.

The top brass already had a plan to handle the situation discreetly. Which was to drop rangers in from the air, take over the city, and prevent any escape plans that Telaiz had from coming into fruition.

But there was one problem, an airport was in the city, and aerial footage showed that Telaiz had ordered for multiple SAM launchers to be brought into the city.

To combat this, 'Echo' and the others were to discreetly enter the city, and destroy any and all SAM launchers that could be found, along with disabling the airport for good.

"Echo," The Colonel addressed, "I'm putting you in as the leader of this unit. You are being deployed at 1:00 sharp, so get some rest."

The group was dismissed and went their separate ways. Edward definitely planned to take the Colonel up on his offer of rest, he would need it later.

He made his way over to his bunk and resting his head on his pillow, closed his eyes.


End file.
